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HELP- YOUR- SCHOOL 
SURVEYS 


Is  the  central  office  organization  adequate  ? 
Are  the  financial  records  adequate  ? 
Are  the  educational  records  adequate  ? 
Is  the  teaching  efficient  in  classes  seen? 


Waterbury  Public  Schools 

and 

Classroom  Instruction  in  St.  Paul 


Summaries  of  two  surveys  made  by  the 

BUREAU   OF  MUNICIPAL   RESEARCH 

261  Broadway,  New  York  City 

Price  15  c$nts;   10  for  $1,00 


CONTENTS-INDEX 


Arithmetic  27-31 

Age-grade 6,  10,  11,  cover 

Blackboards 18 

Board  of  education 13 

Board  of  health 13 

Budget 7,  11 

Buildings 5,  13,  15 

Census See  records 

Cleaning See  janitors 

Clerical  assistance 15 

Cloak  rooms 14 

Composition .22-25 

Continuation  school 6,  14 

Cooperation,  outside 6,  15 

Course  of  study, 

5,  10,  12;  see  subjects 

Domestic  arts .5,  6,  14 

Drinking  fountains 8 

Efficiency  devices 11,  27,  31 

Elimination  .  ..10 


Extent  of  surveys 2,  17 

Fire  precautions 14 

Geography    31 

Grammar    24-26 

Grounds  5 

Gymnasium  6 

History 32 

Janitors 4,  7,  8 

Kindergarten    6 

Library  3 

Lighting .».:. .  .*. • 


Maps  31 

Manual  training 5,  6,  14 

Membership See  size  of  class 

Museums   9 

Music    19 

Night  schools 5 

Part  time 15, 16 

Phonics    21 

Physical  examination 13 

Physiology  and  hygiene 5,  32 

Play 9 

Principals 4,  15 

Promotions  9 

Reading 19-22 

Records 3,  6,  7,  9,  10,  12 

Repairs 7,  8 

Reports See  records 

Salaries 3,  4 

Sanitation .  .4,  8,  14,  18 

Seating 5,  18 

Size  of  classes 11,  12 

Social   center See   cooperation 

Spelling    ...26 

Stereopticon   9 

Superintendent 3,  4,  19 

Supervision 4,  9,  18,  19 

Supplies 3,  5,  7,  11,  18,  21 

Teachers'  meetings 19 

Technical  instruction 14 

Text  books See  supplies 

Towels    9 

Trade  training 6 

Ventilation 4,  5,  8,  14,  18 


FOREWORD 

In  February,  1913,  the  Bureau  was  asked  by  the  Committee 
of  Thirty  re  Needs  of  St.  Paul's  Public  Schools,  to  answer 
within  the  limits  of  a  six  day  survey  of  school  management 
the  following  four  questions : 

Is  the  central  office  organization  adequate? 

Are  the  financial  records  adequate? 

Are  the  educational  records  adequate? 

Is  the  teaching  observed. in  40  classes  efficient? 

The  full  report  was  submitted  to  the  committee  March  4th 
and  published  in  local  newspapers.  The  study  of  class  room 
instruction  by  Mr.  A.  N.  Farmer,  now  in  charge  of  the  normal 
school  study  for  the  Wisconsin  State  Board  of  Public  Affairs, 
is  reprinted  here ;  the  other  portions  are  omitted  because  their 
points  are  largely  covered  by  the  Waterbury  findings. 

The  three  day  survey  of  the  Waterbury  schools  was  made 
by  Dr.  Horace  L.  Brittain,  now  director  of  the  Ohio  State 
School  Survey.  It  was  included  at  the  request  of  a  committee 
of  business  men  as  part  of  an  investigation  of  the  organization 
and  business  procedure  of  all  city  departments, — financial 
methods,  departments  of  police,  fire,  health,  charities,  water, 
parks,  public  works,  public  library,  clerks,  inspector  of  build- 
ings, etc. — which  was  submitted  by  the  Bureau  April  16,  1913. 
The  Waterbury  papers  printed  the  summary  which  is  here 
given  with  the  addition  of  some  tables  from  the  complete  text. 

These  two  reports  are  reprinted  for  the  use  of  school  com- 
missioners, supervisors  and  laymen  as  pointing  the  way  to 
easy-to-take  remedial  steps  which  may  be  needed  in  your  city. 

BUREAU  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 

TRUSTEES  DIRECTORS 

R.  FULTON  CUTTING  WILLIAM  H.  ALLEN 

FRANK  L.  POLK  HENRY  BRUERE 

JOSEPH  W.  HARRIMAN  FREDERICK  A.  CLEVELAND 

GEORGE  B.  HOPKINS 

BRADLEY   MARTIN,  JR. 

VICTOR  MORAWETZ 

JOHN  B.  PINE 

EDWIN  R.  A.  SELIGMAN 

ALBERT   SHAW 

FRANK  TUCKER 


SURVEY    OF    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS 

OF 

WATERBURY,    CONNECTICUT 


EXTENT  OF  SURVEY 

Visits  during  3  days  in  February,  1913,  to  18  schools  in  the 
second  taxation  district,  17  elementary  and  one  high 
school ;  study  of  educational  records  and  reports  in  offices 
of  principals  and  superintendent,  of  routine  procedure  in 
offices  of  inspector  of  buildings  and  superintendent,  etc 

Points  marked  *  were  not  investigated  in  detail  and  for 
this  reason  no  fuller  treatment  of  them  appears  in  the 
text  of  the  full  report,  which  consisted  of  35  typewritten 
pages,  9  pages  of  tables,  and  7  exhibits.  The  actual  cost 
of  making  the  survey  and  report  was  $126.89 


CONDITIONS    FAVORABLE    TO    EFFICIENCY 

Administration 

*The  superintendent  of  schools  has  great  freedom  in  the 
selection  of  teachers.  Only  once  in  16  years  has  one  of 
his  appointments  been  set  aside  by  vote  of  the  board  of 
education 

For  over  10  years  Waterbury  has  had  in  use  an  excellent 
system  of  continuous  record  cards  for  pupils  in  the 
schools,  excellent  in  that 

(a)  by  reason  of  the  use  of  individual  cards,  the  com- 

plete record  can  be  moved  from  school  to  school 
as  easily  as  the  boy 

(b)  the    things    superintendent,    board    members    and 

taxpayers  ought  to  know  about  the  children  are 
there  on  the  card 

The  superintendent  receives  excellent  reports  on  enrollment, 
transfers,  net  membership,  attendance,  promotions,  double 
promotions,  absence  of  teachers,  attendance  of  teachers  at 
professional  gatherings,  corporal  punishment,  etc,  These 
reports  are  excellent  in  that 

(a)  adequate  information  is  given 

(b)  reports  are  frequent 

(c)  directions  are  clear 

At  the  superintendent's  office  is  a  professional  teachers' 
library  of  several  hundred  volumes,  carefully  indexed. 
Thirty  or  40  magazines  are  also  kept  in  this  room 

*The  routine  business  of  the  office  of  the  superintendent  of 
schools  is  well  organized  in  that 

(a)  clerks   work   under   a   regular   schedule   for   each 

month  of  the  year 

(b)  assistants'  schedules  tell  them  when  to  remind  the 

superintendent  of  matters  demanding  his  atten- 
tion 

(c)  all  official  papers  are  systematically  filed  in  book 

form 

(d)  record  is  kept  of  phone  calls 

The  distribution  of  text  books  and  supplies  is  under  good 
control  because  the  system  shows  stock  on  hand  and 
amount  consumed  as  well  as  purchased.  Budget  esti- 
mates for  text  books  and  supplies  are  based  on  a  definite 
schedule 

The  average  salary  for  teachers  in  the  second  taxation  dis- 
trict (being  fourth  on  the  list  of  Connecticut  towns,  ac- 
cording to  the  report  of  the  state  commission  of  educa- 
tion) is  relatively  high,  placing  the  city  in  a  strong 
position  in  competition  for  good  teachers  in  Connecticut 
and  neighboring  states 


WATERBURY  SCHOOLS 
Salary  Schedules 


POSITION 

SA 

I,ARY 

Minimum 

Maximum 

High  school  teacher,  man  

$750 

$1500 

"            "        woman 

700 

1100 

Grade  orincitjal's  assistant 

350—900 

Department  teachers 

850 

Teachers,  grade  II  —  IX      

800 

grade  I       

850 

kindergarten  

800 

Kindergarten  assistant  

700 

^Considerable  freedom  seems  to  be  allowed  to  the  principals 
in  developing  efficiency  methods  in  their  own  schools. 
One  principal  was  found  to  have  a  special  card  index 
scheme  giving  names  of  pupils  residing  in  houses  where 
contagious  disease  had  been  reported 

The  superintendent  spends  from  3  to  4  hours  daily  among 
the  schools,  except  during  such  periods  as  the  beginning 
and  end  of  terms  and  during  budget  making.  The  super- 
visor of  primary  schools  spends  all  the  regular  school 
hours  in  supervision.  The  superintendent  meets  all  the 
principals  every  2  weeks  to  discuss  such  topics  as  text 
books,  course  of  study,  etc.  The  supervisors  of  primary 
grades  have  regular  and  frequent  meetings.  Principals 
meet  their  teachers  every  2  weeks  for  discussion 

Construction  and  Sanitation 

All  school  rooms  are  scrubbed  3  times  a  year  and  kinder- 
garten rooms  once  a  week 

Push  brushes  and  a  sweeping  mixture  are  in  use  in  all  build- 
ings 

The  tinting  of  the  rooms  is  standardized 

The  high  school  is  provided  with  a  vacuum  cleaning  system 

The  board  of  education  has  adopted  a  definite  policy  with 
regard  to  the  character  of  school  construction 

The  lighting  of  new  school  buildings  is  satisfactory  as  to 

(a)  height  of  windows 

(b)  piers  narrow  and  beveled 

(c)  narrow  spaces  between  windows 

(d)  4  buildings  exceed  standard  lighting 

Most  of  the  school  buildings  are  provided  with  exhaust  or 
plenum  fans,  or  with  both 

In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  great  improvement  in  the 
construction  of  sanitaries  by  replacing  wooden  partitions 


FAVORABLE  FINDINGS 


and  floors  with  stone  and  by  installing  well-constructed 
toilets  in  old  buildings 

Corridors  and  stairways  in  new  buildings  are  faced  with 
salt-glazed  or  painted  brick 

All  school  buildings,  except  4,  are  equipped  with  fireproof 
stairways 

All  doors  open  outward;  many  outside  doors  are  provided 
with  panic  bolts 

Non-adjustable  seats  are  being  rapidly  replaced  by  adjust- 
able seats 

The  schools  are  provided  throughout  with  sanitary  drink- 
ing fountains 

Most  of  the  new  buildings  have  automatic  control  of  tem- 
perature in  the  class  room 

The  school  grounds  are  generally  of  good  size  compared  to 
school  grounds  in  other  cities  of  the  size  of  Waterbury. 
The  location  of  schools  is  generally  good,  and  in  the  case 
of  the  more  recent  buildings,  very  fine 

Text  Books  and  Course  of  Study 

*Principals  and  teachers  are  consulted  in  the  choice  of  text 
books  and  to  some  extent  in  outlining  courses  of  study 

Manual  training  and  domestic  arts  are  taught  in  the  elemen- 
tary schools  from  the  fifth  grade  up.  An  evidence  of 
effective  teaching  is  the  fact  that  300  girls  made  their 
graduation  dresses  for  June 

*Waterbury  elementary  schools  offer  a  satisfactory  course 
in  physiology  and  hygiene 

The  night  schools  offer  besides  the  regular  grammar,  high 
school  and  commercial  courses,  instruction  in  practical 
arts,  such  as  dressmaking,  millinery,  drawing  and  chem- 
istry 

Of  the  average  enrollment  in  night  schools  the  percentage 
that  attends  is  high 

Evening  School  Enrollment  and  Attendance 


CITY 

Enrollment 

Attendance 

Sessions 

#  Att.  on  IJnr. 

Hartford  

2,522 

646 

75 

26 

Hew  Haven  

1,066 

315 

75 

29 

New  Britain  

944 

303 

75 

32 

Waterbury  

803 

518 

86 

64.5 

Meridan  

366 

188 

75 

51 

Danbury  

282 

83 

75 

29 

Ansonia  

149 

39 

50 

26 

6  WATERBURY  SCHOOLS 

180  apprentices  are  enrolled  in  the  continuation  school  while 
there  is  a  waiting  list  of  40.  Each  apprentice  receives  4 
hours  of  class  room  instruction  per  week,  in  addition  to 
visits  from  the  director  of  the  school  while  the  appren- 
tice is  at  work  in  a  particular  shop.  The  classes  are 
limited  in  size  to  20  each.  The  director,  in  addition  to 
thorough  technical  training,  is  experienced  in  shop  work 
and  factory  practice 

Outside  Cooperation 

Waterbury  affords  many  examples  of  outside  cooperation, 
such  as: 

(a)  a  bequest  for  manual  training 

(b)  the  initiation  of  kindergartens,  the   beginning  of 

public  library  work  with  school  children,  the 
opening  of  the  first  open-air  school,  the  en- 
couragement of  the  decoration  of  the  school 
rooms  with  plaster  casts  and  reproductions  of 
paintings,  by  the  Woman's  Club  of  Waterbury 

(c)  assistance  in  the  initiation  of  cooking  instruction 

in  the  public  schools,  by  the  Friendly  League  of 
Waterbury 

(d)  supplying  gymnasium  facilities  for  boys  in  public 

schools  by  the  Waterbury  Boys'  Club  and  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A. 

(e)  support  of  the  continuation  school  movement  by 

manufacturers  and  labor  unions  of  Waterbury — 
support  without  which  success  would  have  been 
impossible 

DEFECTIVE  CONDITIONS  EASILY  CORRECTED  BY 
SLIGHT    IMPROVEMENTS    IN    ADMINIS- 
TRATION  HEREWITH   SUGGESTED 

The  school  census  is  kept  in  a  bound  book  instead  of  in  a  card 
catalogue,  thus  making  difficult  the  current  correction  of 
the  census  and  causing  unnecessary  writing  of  the  same 
children's  names  year  after  year 

Before  the  next  census  is  taken  the  superintendent's  office 
should  be  provided  with  the  necessary  cabinets  and  forms 
for  a  census  in  card  catalogue  form 

Continuous  record  cards  of  children  are  not  arranged  by  classes 
and  grades,  hence  each  teacher  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
can  not  easily  make  an  age-progress-health  study  of  her 
class 

At  least  in  the  offices  of  the  principals  the  continuous 
record  cards  should  be  arranged  at  once  by  grades  and 
classes,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  school  year  each 


CHECKING  UP  REPAIRS  NEEDED  7 

teacher  should  make  an  age-progress  study  of  her  class  by 
means  of  the  suggested  form,  and  if  data  are  then  available, 
an  age-progress-health-mentality  study  of  her  class  accord- 
ing to  a  form  similar  to  that  given  in  Appendix  A 

*  Accurate  per  capita  costs  for  text  books  and  supplies,  based 
on  actual  consumption,  are  available  for  the  entire  city  but 
not  for  each  school,  although  the  necessary  accounts  are  kept 
The  next  report  of  the  board  of  education  should  utilize 
this  information  and  state  accurate  per  capita  costs  for  each 
function  in  each  school,  kind  of  school  and  special  activity. 
Where  possible  pupil-subject-hour  costs  should  also  be  com- 
puted 

Bills  for  repairs  are  not  checked  up  properly  as  to  time  by 
records  kept  by  principals  or  janitors 

Firms  doing  business  with  the  education  department 
should  be  required  SQ  to  itemize  their  bills  for  labor  as  to 
make  it  possible  to  check  them  by  time  records  kept  by 
principals  or  janitors  in  all  school  buildings 

Time  cards  are  not  in  use  in  the  office  of  the  inspector  of 
school  buildings;  neither,  as  a  usual  thing,  is  the  time  of  the 
various  men  in  the  repair  squad  kept  by  principals  or 
janitors 

A  thorough  system  of  time  cards  should  be  installed  im- 
mediately in  the  office  of  the  inspector  of  buildings 

Records  of  cost  of  materials  and  labor  for  each  repair  job  are 
not  kept  and  even  when  these  are  continually  recurrent  they 
are  not  standardized 

Records  of  cost  of  every  job  for  materials  and  labor  should 
be  made  a  basis  for  standardizing  the  cost  of  the  various 
sorts  of  repairs,  renewals  and  renovations  which  constantly 
recur.  Assuming  that  the  whole  amount,  $16,000,  allowed 
this  year  for  repairs,  will  be  expended  this  year  and  that 
repairs  are  charged  to  other  accounts,  repairs  will  cost  17% 
of  the  total  value  of  school  buildings  which  are  under  the 
direct  control  of  the  Waterbury  board  of  education.  An 
unusual  proportion  of  the  school  buildings  in  Waterbury 
are  of  comparatively  recent  construction.  In  New  York 
where  there  are  many  old  school  buildings,  the  budget  al- 
lowance for  repairs  is  on  a  basis  of 


Records  of  the  dates  when  rooms  are  renovated,  etc.,  are  not 
kept,  so  that  it  is  not  possible  at  present  to  make  a  time 
schedule  for  the  life  of  different  sorts  of  repairs 

A  card  catalogue  giving  the  history  of  each  job  of  repair- 
ing, renewing  or  renovating  should  be  installed  at  once  as  a 
basis  for  standardizing  the  life  of  all  sorts  of  work  done  on 
the  physical  plant 


8  WATERBURY  SCHOOLS 

The  instructions  to  janitors  are  not  detailed  enough  to  secure 
uniformity  in  essentials,  such  as  proper  use  of  feather 
dusters  and  the  flushing  of  water  closets;  nor  does  the 
present  system  get  sufficiently  quick  response  when  janitors' 
supplies  and  small  repairs  are  needed 

Detailed  regulations  as  to  care  of  school  buildings,  noti- 
fication of  needed  repairs  and  supplies,  etc.,  should  be  drawn 
up  as  soon  as  possible  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  all  prin- 
cipals, teachers  and  janitors.  Principals  and  teachers  should 
be  held  responsible  for  securing  proper  care  of  their  build- 
ings from  day  to  day  in  order  that  janitorial  service  may  be 
effectively  standardized.  The  board  of  education  should 
take  immediate  steps  to  have  the  repair  squad  and  janitorial 
force  put  under  civil  service  regulations.  The  superintend- 
ent of  schools  has  no  veto  on  the  plans  of  buildings.  Build- 
ings may  be  planned,  contracts  let,  and  even  construction 
started  without  any  knowledge  of  the  superintendent  dur- 
ing his  absence  from  the  city  at  vacation  time 

Where  yards  are  small  and  consequently  cut  up  in  wet 
weather,  as  in  the  Clay  Street  school,  the  school  room  floors 
are  extremely  muddy  or  dusty,  yet  they  are  not  treated 
with  a  non-drying  oil 

The  floors  in  such  buildings  should  be  treated  with  non- 
drying  oil,  well  rubbed  in.  However,  no  application  of  oil 
should  be  made  on  the  floor  immediately  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  teachers'  desks 

Toilet  seats  are  often  rough  and  consequently  difficult  to  keep 
clean 

Toilet  seats  should  be  kept  always  smooth  by  varnishing 
or  otherwise  and  should  be  thoroughly  cleaned  at  least  once 
every  24  hours.  Some  janitors  should  use  a  strong  disin- 
fectant, such  as  formaldehyde;  some  have  been  using  var- 
ious coal  tar  products  which  disguise  any  odors  that  may 
be  lurking  in  the  toilets 

Although  most  of  the  sanitary  drinking  fountains  are  excel- 
lent, one  type  in  use  -in  Waterbury  necessitates  children 
bringing  their  hands  very  close  to  the  jet,  thus  affording 
chance  of  contagion 

The  form  of  sanitary  fountain  to  be  attached  to  old  fix- 
tures should  be  of  a  kind  which  will  not  bring  children's 
hands  in  contact  with  or  close  proximity  to  the  jet 

During  the  inspection  several  rooms  were  found  to  be  some- 
what overheated 

All  principals,  teachers  and  janitors  should  be  given 
thorough  instruction  in  the  ventilating  and  heating  systems 
in  their  own  buildings,  and  every  teacher  should  be  pro- 


ANNUAL  PROMOTIONS  LOSE  TIME  9 

vided  with  blanks  on  which  to  report  temperature  records. 
Steps  should  be  taken  to  make  it  impossible  to  have  over- 
heated class  rooms,  either  by  continuous  expert  attention 
to  the  automatic  control  system,  or  in  some  other  way. 

In  several  new  buildings  some  rooms  have  the  air  inlet 
and  outlet  too  close  together,  in  some  places  as  close  as  five 
feet.  This  tends  to  the  creation  of  dead  air  spaces  in  the 
parts  of  the  room  farthest  away  from  the  inlets  and  outlets 

Schools  are  not  provided  with  individual  paper  towels  for 
pupils  or  with  rolls  of  paper  toweling 

All  schools  should  be  provided  with  paper  towels  for  the 
use  of  pupils 

Thoroughly  organized  school  museums  and  reflecting  ap- 
paratus are  not  provided  in  all  elementary  schools  to  shorten 
and  make  more  efficient  the  teaching  of  geography,  history 
and  English 

Steps  should  be  take'n  through  neighborhood  cooperation 
to  procure  stereopticons  and  apparatus  for  solid  projection 
and  museums  for  all  schools.  This  apparatus  could  be  used 
effectively  in  social  center  and  night  school  work,  par- 
ticularly among  foreigners,  as  well  as  in  regular  class  room 
instruction 

*Organized  play  does  not  receive  sufficient  attention,  particu- 
larly in  the  primary  and  intermediate  grades 

Course  of  study  should  be  provided  in  organized  play,  and 
teachers  should  be  instructed  in  methods  of  teaching  plays 
and  games 

Time  cards  showing  amount  of  time  spent  in  teaching,  in  office 
work  and  in  class  room  supervision  from  month  to  month, 
are  not  provided  for  the  principals,  and  regular  reports  on 
apportionment  of  principals'  time  are  not  sent  to  the  superin- 
tendent 

Accurate  records  should  be  kept  of  the  amount  and  char- 
acter of  supervision,  time  spent  by  principals  in  office  routine 
and  in  class  room  instruction 

Regular  semi-annual  promotions  are  not  made  in  the  Water- 
bury  system.  Where  regular  promotions  occur  but  once 
a  year,  so  that  units  of  work  for  a  grade  are  large,  and 
where  there  are  many  oversize  classes  rendering  individual 
instruction  out  of  the  question,  not  very  many  promotions 
throughout  the  year  can  be  made  to  advantage 

In  order  to  decrease  the  amount  of  time  lost  through  non- 
promotion  a  system  of  regular  semi-annual  promotions 
should  be  introduced  into  the  elementary  schools  and  the 
high  school.  Causes  for  non-promotion  are  stated  in  the 
annual  promotion  reports  sent  to  the  superintendent. 


10  WATERBURY  SCHOOLS 

Notices  of  impending  failure  of  pupils  are  sent  to  parents  in 
time  to  affect  the  programs  of  pupils.  In  the  elementary 
schools  promotions  are  by  subjects.  About  90%  of  the 
pupils  on  the  register  at  the  end  of  the  year  are  promoted, 
although  the  promotion  problem  is  particularly  acute  in 
Waterbury  on  account  of 

(a)  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city — almost  60%  in  ten  years 

(b)  tfie  influx  of  non-English  speaking  people 

(c)  the  entry  into  the  grade  of  large  numbers  of  immature 

pupils  under  5  or  slightly  over 

(d)  the  large  number  of  overage  children  in  the  lower 

grades 

The  causes  of  dropping  out  in  individual  cases  are  not  ascer- 
tained and  recorded  as  a  matter  of  routine 

Records  of  dropping  out  and  the  causes  of  dropping  out 
should  be  kept  in  each  school  building  and  in  the  office  of 
the  superintendent  of  schools 

The  elementary  school  should  offer  more  than  the  one  full 
course.  There  are  no  intermediate  schools  nor  is  there  any 
differentiation  in  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  the  course 
given 

Each  teacher  is  not  expected  at  the  beginning  of  each  term  to 
make  a  careful  age-progress-health  study  of  her  class  in 
order  to  learn  100%  of  her  overage  and  retardation  problem 
For  the  purpose  of  locating  children  specially  needing  at- 
tention, each  teacher  should  be  required  at  the  beginning 
of  each  term  to  make  a  careful  age-progress-health  study  of 
her  class,  which  shall  be  kept  currently  up  to  date  by  mark- 
ing pupils  who  have  dropped  out,  been  transferred,  or  re- 
ceived promotions  during  the  term 

Where  there  are  several  classes  in  each  grade  in  the  same 
building,  children  are  not  assigned  to  classes  according  to 
age,  mental  age,  physiological  age,  or  degree  of  retardation 
or  acceleration ;  but  children  are  divided  "fairly"  among  the 
teachers.  This  results  in  unnecessary  extremes  of  age,  size 
and  progress  within  each  individual  class.  In  age,  for  ex- 
ample,  4  classes  showed  each  a  difference  between  the  oldest 
and  youngest  child  of  9y2  years  or  over.  Of  the  17  classes 
in  the  upper  5  grades  of  one  school,  13  contained  both  slow 
overage  children  and  rapid  underage  children.  See  p.  3,  cover 


UNIT  COSTS  IN  SCHOOL  BUDGET  11 

These  age-progress  studies  along  with  other  data  should 
be  made  the  basis  for  classification  and  continuous  reclassifi- 
cation  of  pupils.  The  necessity  for  such  classification  is  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  that  an  age-progress  study  of  one  gram- 
mar school  with  a  membership  of  over  1,300  (the  material 
for  which  study  was  supplied  through  the  earnest  coopera- 
tion of  the  principal  and  teachers)  shows  that  in  this  school 
4  times  as  many  pupils  lose  time  as  gain  time 

While  the  budget  estimates  for  textbooks  and  supplies  are 
carefully  computed  on  a  unit  cost  basis,  the  budget  estimate 
form  as  submitted  does  not  state  the  number  of  units  and 
the  unit  costs  for  janitors'  payrolls  and  supplies,  various 
items  of  expense,  maintenance  and  repairs  and  manual 
training 

The  whole  school  budget  should  be  reduced  to  a  basis  of 
units  and  unit  costs 

*Sufncient  care  is  not  given  to  pass  along  in  a  regular  way 
efficiency  devices  from  principal  to  principal  and  school  to 
school.  For  example,  an  excellent  device  used  by  one  prin- 
cipal for  locating  children  exposed  to  danger  of  contagion, 
is  not  in  use  in  other  schools  of  the  city 

A  clearing  house  should  be  established  in  the  superin- 
tendent's office  through  which  (1)  efficiency  devices  in  ad- 
ministration or  instruction  found  to  be  valuable  in  any 
school  within  or  without  the  system  may  be  made  immedi- 
ately available  to  all  Waterbury  schools,  and  (2)  the  superin- 
tendent, the  board  and  the  public  may  currently  be  told 
where  attention  is  needed 

In  one  elementary  school  3  ninth  grade  classes  had  member- 
ships respectively  of  29,  27  and  35,  while  3  first  grade  classes 
had  memberships  of  55,  55  and  54 

Where  such  conditions  exist  small  classes  could  be  com- 
bined and  large  classes  divided  without  any  increase  in  the 
number  of  teachers  and  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  school  as  a  whole.  For  example,  in  the  case 
cited,  the  first  grade  could  have  been  organized  in  4  classes 
and  the  ninth  in  2  without  any  increase  in  the  number  of 
teachers  and  without  any  class  having  more  than  46  pupils 


12 


WATERBURY  SCHOOLS 
Membership  of  Classes 


1 

19 

o 

«0 

o 

% 

3 

? 

o 

« 

s 

2 

m 

8 

8 

J> 

1 

1 

I 

3 

I 

1 

1 

o 

i 

2 

$ 

b* 

M 

fi 

i 

3 

K 

3 

2 

1 

2 

1 

2 

1 

1 

3 

59 

1 

3 

9 

8 

10 

3 

50 

2 

7 

4 

6 

3 

4 

1 

44 

3 

3 

5 

12 

8 

3 

44 

4 

i 

1 

6 

6 

10 

3 

42 

5 

3 

3 

3 

5 

12 

40 

6 

2 

4 

5 

12 

1 

36 

7 

5 

4 

6 

6 

1 

36 

8 

4 

1 

3 

1 

32 

9 

6 

3 

2 

1 

31 

21 

26 

38 

61 

45 

22 

5 

2 

1 

1 

3 

Membership  and  attendance  reports  to  the  superintendent,  in 
addition  to  the  usual  membership  figures,  do  not  contain 
membership  figures  which  result  from 

(a)  counting  every  child  as  a  member  until  his  absence, 

irrespective  of  its  length,  has  been  satisfactorily 
explained  and  his  membership  cancelled  officially 
by  the  superintendent 

(b)  counting  as  members  pupils  who  have  dropped  out 

of  school  finally  during  the  course  of  the  term  with- 
out completing  an  elementary  school  course 
The  second  figure  need  be  obtained  at  every  promotion  only 
for  the  purpose  of  using  it  as  a  basis  for  computing  percents 
of  promotion,  non-promotion  and  dropping  out 

Stating  membership  on  the  first  basis  is  desirable  for  ad- 
ministrative reasons  and  tends  to  put  a  check  on  truancy 
and  unnecessary  absence.  Membership  on  the  second  basis 
is  necessary  as  one  element  in  measuring  social  efficiency  of 
schools — their  efficiency  in  retaining  children  to  the  end  of 
the  elementary  school  course  and  to  the  end  of  the  high 
school  course 

The  allotment  of  time  to  arithmetic,  etc.,  for  the  various 
grades  is  open  to  question 

The  whole  time  schedule  should  be  subjected  to  a  thor- 
ough study,  in  connection  with  studies  of 

(a)  the  course  of  study  in  relation  to  life 

(b)  methods  of  teaching  in  relation  to  the  development 

of  judgment,  initiative,  and  power  of  adaptation  to 
actual  conditions 

(c)  dropping  out  in  the  various  grades  and  at  the  various 

ages,  with  its  causes 

(d)  failure  and  its  causes  in  the  various  subjects  of  the 

course,  in  various  grades  and  schools,  and  among 
pupils  of  various  origins 


TESTS  FOR  BOARD  MEMBERS  13 

DEFECTIVE     CONDITIONS     EASILY     CORRECTED 

WITH  SUGGESTIONS  FOR  REORGANIZATION 

FOR  WHICH  STATUTORY  ENACTMENT 

IS  NECESSARY 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  whole  board  of  education  comes  up 
for  election  every  year,  continuity  of  policy  is  made  very 
difficult.  When  the  present  board  was  elected,  5  of  the  7 
were  new  men 

Arrangements  should  be  made  by  which  not  more  than  2 
members  shall  be  elected  annually  or  semi-annually. 
Whether  it  is  possible  to  put  this  into  effect  at  once  or  not, 
the  6  following  questions  should  be  used  in  testing  individu- 
als considered  for  the  school  board : 

(a)  are  they  interested  in  the  success  of  the  public  school? 

(b)  do  they  know  reasonably  well  the  local  conditions 

which  the  public  school  is  supposed  to  express  and 
the  local  needs  which  the  public  school  is  supposed 
to  meet? 

(c)  are  they  in  the  habit  of  basing  judgment  upon  facts? 

(d)  are  they  in  the  habit  of  working  from  first  hand  in- 

formation instead  of  hearsay? 

(e)  can  they  use  effectively  such  sources  of  information 

as  school  records,  reports  of  state  and  national 
bureaus  of  education,  the  valuable  discussions  of 
school  methods  and  advance  steps  in  educational 
journals? 

(f)  are   they   capable   of  managing   any  other   business 

where  the  number  of  subordinates,  patrons  and  days 
spent  equals  the  number  of  subordinates,  patrons 
and  days  spent  of  Waterbury's  school  system? 

Owing  to  the  short  term  of  office  of  the  inspector  of  school 
buildings  and  the  frequent  changes  in  personnel,  the  inspec- 
tion of  repair  work  and  janitorial  work  suffers 

The  inspector  of  school  buildings  should  be  placed  under 
civil  service  regulations 

DEFECTIVE  CONDITIONS  EASILY  CORRECTED  BUT 

REQUIRING   INCREASED    APPROPRIATION, 

WITH  CONSTRUCTIVE  SUGGESTIONS 

Physical  examination  of  school  children  is  inadequate,  and 
the  continuous  record  cards  contain  no  physical  data,  hence 
proper  follow-up  work  is  impossible 

The  school  officials  should  help  the  board  of  health  to 
secure  a  sufficient  appropriation  to  make  possible  a  thorough 
physical  examination  of  each  school  child  each  year,  the 
entering  of  the  resulting  data  on  the  children's  continuous 
record  cards  used  by  the  board  of  education,  and  effective 
follow-up  work  by  nurses  and  physicians 


14  WATERBURY  SCHOOLS 

No  school  buildings  are  supplied  with  humidifying  apparatus 
Every  school  building  should  be  supplied  with  some  form 
of  such  apparatus  if  only  a  pan  of  water.  One  building 
should  be  so  supplied  as  an  experiment  and  the  resulting 
improvement  in  the  health  of  pupils  and  reduced  cost  of 
heating  should  be  tested  by  comparison  with  records  in 
other  buildings 

Children's  outer  clothing  is  either  hung  on  racks  in  the 
corridors  or  in  cloak  rooms  with  no  ventilation  save  by  the 
windows 

Ventilated  cloak  rooms  should  be  supplied  in  all  school 
buildings  hereafter  constructed 

Several  of  the  older  school  buildings  and  several  toilets  have 
practically  no  ventilation  save  by  windows 

Wherever  on  account  of  disproportionate  expense  it  is 
undesirable  to  provide  forced  ventilation,  the  latest  and 
best  devices  for  using  window  ventilation  without  danger 
to  children's  health  from  drafts  should  be  installed 

Some  school  buildings  are  still  unprovided  with  fireproof 
landings  at  the  bottoms  and  tops  of  stairways 

No  building  of  more  than  one  story  should  be  allowed  to 
remain  in  this  condition  if  it  is  to  continue  in  use  for  school 
purposes 

One  school  is  provided  with  fire  escapes  which  increase  fire 
risks  to  children  and  teachers  in  the  building 

These  should  be  replaced  at  once  by  adequate  and  safe 
escapes 

No  manual  training  or  sewing  is  taught  in  the  high  school 

These  courses  should  be  given  if  the  high  school  is  to 
meet  100%  of  the  community  needs 

*The  manufacturing  city  of  Waterbury  needs  more  continua- 
tion instruction.  The  feasibility  of  such  instruction  has  been 
proved  by  the  wise  policy  of  the  board  and  the  superintend- 
ent and  by  the  cooperation  of  organized  labor  and  of  em- 
ployers of  labor 

The  superintendent's  policy  of  satisfying  demands  for 
continuation  training  as  they  become  apparent  should  be 
heartily  supported  by  the  board  of  education  and  the  citi- 
zens of  Waterbury.  The  present  waiting  list  of  40  indicates 
the  reality  of  the  present  demand 

Waterbury  has  no  technical  high  schools  and  no  facilities  for 
technical  instruction  in  the  present  high  school 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  present  high  school  has  double 
sessions,  and  that  the  city  is  an  industrial  center,  Water- 


PART  TIME  AND  OVERCROWDING  15 

bury  should  proceed  immediately  to  the  construction  of  the 
technical  high  school  which  has  been  under  consideration 
for  years 

*Principals  of  elementary  schools  with  from  12  to  14  classes 
have  no  clerical  assistance,  so  that  they  are  not  able  to  give 
a  sufficient  amount  of  time  to  class  room  supervision 

Clerical  assistance  should  be  supplied  to  the  principals 
in  the  ratio  of  at  least  one  assistant  to  36  rooms,  the  assist- 
ants to  go  where  necessary,  from  principal  to  principal  ac- 
cording to  a  regular  schedule 

Social  center  and  neighborhood  work  in  connection  with  the 
schools  is  under  present  conditions  practically  impossible 
in  Waterbury.  For  example,  no  school  in  Waterbury  is 
provided  with  a  gymnasium  or  shower  baths  and  no  ele- 
mentary school  has  an  auditorium.  The  lack  of  auditoriums 
makes  it  impossible  for  principals  to  meet  all  their  pupils 
in  general  exercises,  for  teachers  to  meet  parents  of  pupils 
at  parent-teacher  meetings,  or  for  neighborhood  organiza- 
tions to  hold  meetings  in  the  most  conveniently  located 
building  in  the  neighborhood — a  building  moreover,  which 
is  the  property  of  the  public 

No  future  school  building  should  be  constructed  without 
supplying  adequate  provisions  for  neighborhood  activities. 
The  use  of  expensive  school  buildings  only  6  hours  a  day 
for  200  days  in  the  year  is  uneconomic 

Waterbury  provides  inadequate  school  room  accommodation 
and  insufficient  number  of  teachers  for  the  children  attend- 
ing its  schools  as  is  shown  by  the  following  facts: 

(a)  840  pupils  in  the  elementary  school  of  Waterbury  are 

on  part  time.  The  5  unoccupied  class  rooms  even 
if  properly  located  would  be  entirely  inadequate  to 
take  care  of  the  part  time  children.  These  pupils 
are  distributed  as  follows: 

Grade    I        II        III        IV       V       VI        VII        VIII       IX       Total 
NO.     103    96     175     225     174     0        67          0         0        840 

(b)  of  198  elementary  classes  59  have  40  to  45  pupils  per 

teacher,  54  have  45  to  50  pupils  per  teacher,  20 
have  from  50  to  55  per  teacher,  and  4  have  55  or 
over  per  teacher,  excluding  kindergarten  classes 
and  mixed  classes  which  are  few  in  number  and 
small  in  size 

That  Waterbury,  which,  according  to  the  report  of  the  state 
commission  of  education,  ranks  fourth  in  population,  fourth 
in  registration,  fourth  in  amount  received  from  the  state  and 
fourth  in  the  1909  examination,  ranks  only  119th  in  amount 


16  WATERBURY  SCHOOLS 

spent  per  child  based  on  enumeration,  and  only  82d  based 
on  average  attendance,  is  not  due  to  low  salaries  paid  her 
teachers.  According  to  the  report  above  cited,  only  8  cities 
and  towns  in  the  state  surpass  Waterbury  in  salaries  paid, 
if  the  district  schools  be  included,  and  only  4  if  the  schools 
of  the  second  taxation  district  be  considered  by  themselves. 
If,  as  appears  to  be  the  case,  the  low  cost  per  child  is  due 
partly  to  overcrowded  classes  and  perhaps  to  part  time  un- 
avoidable with  the  present  equipment,  Waterbury  is  pay- 
ing too  large  a  price  for  her  showing  in  economy 

The  board  of  education  should  take  immediate  steps  to 
learn  whether  the  Ettinger  part  time  plan  (New  York)  or 
the  plan  used  in  Gary,  Indiana,  whereby  2  class  rooms  do 
the  work  usually  done  by  4  or  more,  would  not  greatly  re- 
lieve the  situation  both  as  to  part  time  and  oversize  classes. 
The  board  of  education  should  determine  just  what  construc- 
tion will  be  necessary  to  cope  with  any  wants  which  can- 
not be  met  by  reorganization,  and  with  the  extremely  rapid 
growth  in  school  population.  Whatever  new  construction 
is  necessary  should  be  immediately  undertaken 


The  complete  report  of  the  Bureau  has  been  published 
in  all  our  daily  papers  and  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  the  fair- 
ness with  which  you  made  your  survey  here. 

Beyond  a  doubt  your  report  will  help  me  greatly  in  my 
work  and  will  secure  for  us  better  boards  of  education, 
more  liberal  appropriations  and  an  awakening  interest 
among  the  general  public.  Quite  a  number  of  your  sug- 
gestions I  have  put  into  operation  at  once  and  shall  con- 
tinue to  take  them  up  as  rapidly  as  possible.  We  have  just 
puVour  schools  on  an  eight  year  basis  and  begun  the  pre- 
liminary work  about  revising  our  work  in  arithmetic.  The 
principals  have  already  arranged  their  card  indexes  by 
grades  and  rooms  and  I  have  been  making  plans  so  that 
our  census  next  fall  would  be  taken  on  a  card  index.  In 
regard  to  the  latter  it  seems  to  me  that  if  we  had  it  on  a 
card  index,  we  ought  not  to  be  obliged  to  pay  five  cents 
per  name  as  we  do  at  present  because  the  work  of  the  enu- 
merators would  be  very  much  less. 

Letter  from  Sup't.  B.  W.  Tinker,  May  6,  1913 


CLASSROOM    INSTRUCTION 

IN    54    CLASSES 
OP 

ST.  PAUL'S  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 


EXTENT  OF  SURVEY 

Visits  consuming  19?4   hours  from   February   14th  to  20th, 
19L3,  to  54  classes  in  8  school  buildings 


SUBJECT 

GRADE 

TOTAL 

Kg. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Reading  

1 

8 

1 
1 

4 

1 

3 

1 

4 
1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

2 

3 
1 

1 
1 
1 

1 

1 

2 
1 

1 

3 

1 

3 
2 

20 

3 
4 
1 
1 
11 
5 
4 
2 
2 
1 

Composition  .  . 

Grammar 

Spelling  

Phonics  

Arithmetic 

Geography  
History 

Music    . 

Drawing 

Manners 

Total  

1 

10 

9 

6 

4 

6 

4 

4 

10 

54 

Interviews  with  teachers,  principals  and  superintendent  taking 
\2y2  hours 


17 


GENERAL   FINDINGS 

In  23  of  the  54  classes  visited  the  instruction  was  excellent: 
8  in  reading;  5  in  geography  and  history;  4  in  arithmetic; 
2  in  music;  one  in  manners,  phonics,  language;  and  one 
kindergarten  class 

In  31  of  the  54  classes  the  teachers  showed  the  need  for  help- 
ful and  sympathetic  supervision :  12  in  reading ;  7  in  arith- 
metic; 4  in  grammar;  4  in  geography  and  history;  2  in 
language ;  one  in  spelling  and  one  in  drawing 

Of  31  teachers  whose  work  showed  the  need  for  supervision 
and  direction,  24  protested  that  they  were  not  to  blame  for 
existing  conditions,  and  raised  objections  to 

a — The  textbooks   supplied  for  reading  classes  and  the 

lack  of  supplementary  material 

b — The  failure  to  require  systematic  instruction  in  phonics 
c — The  course  of  study  in  grammar  and  the  course  of 

study  in  spelling 
d — The  textbook  and  course  of  study  in  arithmetic 

In  at  least  30  of  54  classes  visited  the  subject  matter  of  the 
textbooks  was  dull,  deadening  and  without  interest  to  pupils 

In  45  of  54  classes  teachers  took  a  moment  or  two  to  open 
windows  and  gave  pupils  a  sharp  gymnastic  drill.  The  bene- 
ficial results  were  evident 

In  2  rooms  some  children  could  not  reach  the  floor  with  their 
feet  when  sitting.  In  not  a  single  room  visited  were  seats 
properly  adjusted  to  all  pupils 

The  finish  of  walls  in  all  buildings  visited  was  a  dark  green. 
This^  decreased  the  light,  especially  in  rooms  where  the 
lighting  area  of  windows  was  far  too  small  to  properly  light 
the  rooms 

In  6  of  8  buildings  it  was  found  that  children  clean  all  erasers 
and  blackboards.  The  pounding  together  of  erasers  is  un- 
healthful  and  unsanitary  and  results  in  children's  breath- 
ing not  a  little  of  the  chalk  dust 

In  30  rooms  blackboards  were  found  in  a  most  untidy  con- 
dition, partly  due  to  poor  cleaning  and  partly  to  negligence 
and  carelessness  in  erasing  written  work 

In  but  6  out  of  38  recitations  in  which  the  use  of  blackboards 
was  necessary  to  get  the  best  results,  was  the  blackboard 
used.  In  2  rooms  most  of  the  blackboard  was  so  covered 
up  it  could  not  be  used.  In  one  room  the  principal  explained 
that  he  did  not  like  to  insist  on  clearing  the  boards  because 
it  would  hurt  the  teacher's  feelings 

18 


READING  CONTRASTS  19 

The  records  showed  that  since  September,  1912,  and  up  to 
February  14,  1913,  every  school  in  the  city  had  been  visited 
by  the  superintendent  once  and  a  second  visit  had  been 
made  to  most  schools.  In  all,  over  100  visits  had  been 
made.  The  record  shows  unusual  energy  in  visiting  on  the 
part  of  a  superintendent 

In  2  of  the  buildings  visited,  meetings  of  principal  and  all 
teachers  are  held  regularly  and  are  made  the  occasions  for 
carefully  going  over  school  problems  that  all  teachers  are 
interested  in.  Meetings  with  groups  of  teachers  having 
common  problems  are  held  as  frequently  as  needed,  and 
"experience"  meetings  are  held  every  six  weeks  when  each 
teacher  relates  facts  that  show  defects  in  instruction  and 
discipline.  These  are  considered  and  discussed.  Frequent 
conferences  with  individual  teachers  are  held  by  the  prin- 
cipal to  work  over  special  problems 

CLASSROOM  INSTRUCTION  BY  SUBJECTS 

Detailed  descriptions  of  each  recitation  visited,  working  papers 
of  children,  etc.,  were  submitted  to  the  St.  Paul  Committee 
with  the  original  report 

MUSIC 

Observation  base:  Two  formal  classes,  one  in  2nd  grade  and 
one  in  6th  grade.  At  other  times  pupils  were  heard  in  rote 
songs 

The  work  shows  the  effect  of  careful  and  intelligent  super- 
vision. In  every  case  where  singing  was  heard,  whether  in 
a  regular  music  class  or  otherwise,  the  voices  of  the  children 
were  of  the  soft,  light  quality  so  much  sought  by  directors 
of  singing  in  public  schools.  In  the  6th  grade  lesson  the 
singing  by  the  children  of  "Twilight"  was  especially  dainty 
and  accurate 

The  pupils  in  both  the  classes  heard  were  doing  individual 
work  in  reading  music.  In  one  room  two  children  sang  a 
two  part  song  without  self-consciousness;  in  the  other  room 
the  little  2nd  graders  without  hesitation  sang  their  exercises 
and  sang  exceptionally  well 

READING 

Observation  base:  Twenty  classes,  8  in  1st  grade,  4  in  2nd, 
4  in  3rd,  2  in  4th,  and  2  in  5th 

A  comparison  of  classes  shows  what  a  great  difference  there 
can  be  in  the  subject  matter  used  in  teaching  reading  to 
children  in  the  primary  grades.  In  one  lesson  the  reading 


20  54  ST.  PAUL  CLASSES 

by  pupils  was  a  mere  calling  of  words.  Pupils  named  words 
as  if  listed  in  columns,  entirely  unrelated.  The  teacher 
realized  that  the  reading  was  lifeless  and  tried  very  hard  to 
get  a  bit  of  expression  in  the  reading.  She  read  each  sen- 
tence as  she  wished  it  rendered  and  the  pupils  tried  just  as 
hard  to  imitate  her,  but  it  was  almost  impossible  to  interest 
children  in  A  rat  is  in  the  trap,  The  man  has  on  his  hat, 
Had  the  man  a  cap  on? 

In  another  lesson  a  child  unconsciously  and  almost  in  spite  of 
itself,  even  if  stolid  and  indifferent,  became  enthusiastic 
when  reading 

"Where  are  you  going,  my  little  cat?" 
"I'm  going  to  town  to  get  me  a  hat." 
"What !  A  hat  for  a  cat ! 
A  cat  get  a  hat! 

Who  ever  heard  of  a  cat  with  a  hat?" 
"Where  are  you  going,  my  little  kittens?" 
"We're  going  to  town  to  buy  some  mittens." 
"What !  Mittens  for  kittens  ! 
Do  kittens  wear  mittens? 
Who  ever  saw  little  kittens  with  mittens?" 
"Where  are  you  going,  my  little  pig?" 
"I'm  going  to  town  to  get  a  new  wig." 
"What!   A  wig  for  a  pig! 
Can  a  pig  wear  a  wig? 
Who  ever  heard  of  a  pig  with  a  wig?" 

When  this  dialogue  was  rendered  by  different  pairs  of 
pupils,  all  vied  with  each  other  to  read  the  lines  with  the 
best  possible  expression 

A  comparison  of  two  lessons  shows  the  difference  in  teaching 
efficiency  due  to  different  methods.  In  one  lesson  children 
read  the  story  of  The  Little  Red  Hen  and  the  Sly  Fox.  The 
boys  and  girls  found  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  words 
and  getting  the  thought.  They  read  with  facility  and  fine 
expression.  In  the  other  lesson  the  children  were  absolutely 
unable  to  help  themselves.  They  read  brothers  as  purty, 
my  as  mamma,  it  as  I,  I  have  a  pretty  puppy  as  Harold  has 
a  pony,  this  is  Harold's  birthday  as  I  do  see,  and  I  do  not 
like  big  dogs  as  I  do  I  do  I  do  one  kitty  baby  dogs 

Some  of  these  children  appeared  to  be  defective  but  the  ma- 
jority seemed  of  normal  capacity.  Some  had  been  in  school 
3  years.  The  physical  conditions  in  the  room  were  bad,  the 
light  poor,  many  of  the  desks  far  too  large  for  the  children 
so  that  their  little  legs  were  dangling  in  air.  Worst  of  all 
the  teacher's  hearing  was  so  defective  that  it  was  only  with 
the  greatest  difficulty  she  was  able  to  understand  what  the 
visitor  said  to  her.  Indeed  it  is  doubtful  if  she  is  able  to 
hear  when  addressed  in  ordinary  speaking  tones  unless  she 
is  watching  the  lips  of  the  speaker.  This  was  the  poorest 
work  observed 


MORE  READING  TEXTS  NEEDED  21 

The  reading  in  at  least  10  of  the  20  classes  visited  showed  that 
pupils  were  greatly  handicapped  because  they  could  not 
make  out  the  words  of  the  lesson.  Getting  thought  under 
such  circumstances  is  practically  impossible.  This  kind  of 
reading  results  in  failure  when  a  pupil  comes  to  study 
history,  geography  or  civics.  Even  in  the  solution  of  arith- 
metic problems  pupils  fail,  not  so  much  because  they  can- 
not perform  the  operations,  but  because  they  have  failed  to 
read  problems  and  so  failed  to  understand  the  conditions 
stated.  One  8th  grade  teacher  made  an  earnest  plea  for 
more  time  to  teach  reading.  She  stated  that  the  inability 
of  pupils  to  get  the  thought  from  a  printed  page  was  pitiful 
and  resulted  in  failure  to  get  on  later  in  all  subjects  involv- 
ing reading;  that  while  200  minutes  per  week  were  pre- 
scribed for  reading,  whenever  pupils  were  deficient  in  any 
other  subject  reading  was  always  the  subject  sacrificed 

Three  principals  and  7  primary  teachers  stated  that  some  years 
ago  when  the  primary 'reading  was  directed  by  a  primary 
supervisor,  phonics  were  taught  to  children,  but  that  in 
recent  years  the  teaching  of  phonics  had  been  discouraged. 
One  principal  and  one  teacher  stated  that  they  had  been 
ordered  to  stop  emphasizing  phonics,  although  they  be- 
lieved that  to  teach  reading  most  effectively  phonics  should 
be  systematically  taught.  In  every  class  where  children 
read  fluently  it  was  found  that  the  teacher  had  taught 
phonics  to  the  children.  In  every  case  where  children  had 
serious  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  words  of  the  lesson 
phonics  had  either  not  been  taught  at  all  or  greatly  neg- 
lected. In  8  of  the  20  classes  visited  the  reading  was  fluent 
and  the  children  were  able  to  read  so  as  to  get  the  thought. 
In  the  12  other  classes  the  reading  was  labored  and  pupils 
had  more  or  less  difficulty  in  determining  what  the  words 

of  the  lesson  were 

** 

The  question  of  reading  material  was  discussed  with  5  prin- 
cipals and  22  teachers.  It  was  the  consensus  of  opinion 
that  teachers  were  greatly  handicapped  by  the  lack  of  suit- 
able material.  In  the  upper  grades  some  supplementary 
reading  has  been  supplied,  but  it  was  claimed  by  some 
principals  that  part  of  this  was  selected  without  consulting 
the  needs  of  the  children  and  was  therefore  unsuitable 

In  the  primary  grades  the  need  is  the  greatest.  The  children 
may  have  2  books  in  a  class,  one  supplied  by  the  school  and 
one  bought  by  the  pupil.  In  one  school,  a  third  book  had 
been  added  with  money  raised  by  the  sale  of  old  papers 
and  magazines 

One  1st  grade  teacher  when  asked  how  much  her  pupils  could 
read  during  the  term  stated  she  did  not  know,  that  she  had 
never  had  an  opportunity  to  find  out;  that  they  went  over 


22  54  ST.  PAUL  CLASSES 

and  over  the  2  books  available  and  had  no  other  material 
to  read.  She  felt  sure,  if  only  they  had  the  books,  the 
children  could  just  as  well  as  not  read  10  or  a  dozen  books 
a  term 

The  experience  of  teachers  in  other  schools  has  demonstrated 
that  children  in  the  first  grade  when  properly  taught  can 
without  difficulty  complete  20  standard  primers  and  first 
readers  during  the  first  year's  work.  This  is  done  by  chil- 
dren who  have  not  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  the  kinder- 
garten 

In  one  8th  grade  class  pupils  were  discussing  the  Man  With- 
out a  Country.  These  pupils  had  a  fine  appreciation  of  the 
story  and  discussed  it  intelligently.  The  teacher  in  charge 
was  one  of  the  ablest  seen 

In  other  classes  pupils  were  reading  from  the  textbooks  in 
history  and  geography.  On  the  whole  the  children  did  not 
read  effectively  as  was  shown  by  their  inability  to  tell  in 
their  own  words  what  had  been  read 

In  2  of  the  buildings  visited  the  reading  was  excellent  while 
in  the  other  6  it  was  poor  or  mediocre 


LANGUAGE  AND   COMPOSITION 

Observation  base :  Three  classes,  one  in  2nd  grade,  one  in  3rd, 
and  one  in  8th 

The  2nd  grade  recitation  was  delightful.  Children  6  and  7 
years  old  were  called  on  and  in  a  spontaneous  way  told 
what  they  had  to  say.  One  delivered  a  short  address  of 
welcome  to  the  visitors.  Another  told  of  an  adventure  in 
a  sail  boat.  The  children  had  something  to  say  and  said 
it  freely.  When  a  child  was  called  on  and  had  nothing  to 
say,  it  was  not  urged.  But  in  every  such  case  the  child  was 
disappointed  that  it  had  nothing  to  tell 

In  the  3rd  grade  pupils  were  copying  formal,  uninteresting 
"stories"  from  the  blackboard.  The  children  had  formulated 
the  stories  under  the  leadership  of  the  teacher.  They  gave 
these  stories  because  they  had  to  say  something  and  not 
because  they  had  something  to  say 

To  test  the  ability  of  pupils  to  express  themselves  in  writing 
and  also  to  find  out  what  pupils  knew  of  their  home  city, 
177  pupils  in  the  7th  and  8th  grades  in  7  rooms  located  in 
4  different  buildings  were  asked  to  write  on  this  subject, 
put  on  the  blackboard:  Is  St.  Paul  a  desirable  city  in  which 
to  live?  Give  reasons.  In  every  class  teachers  were  glad 
to  have  their  pupils  write  on  this  subject.  In  no  class  was 


TESTING  BY  CITIZENSHIP  ESSAYS 


23 


less  than  15  minutes  given  for  the  exercise.  In  some  classes 
pupils  had  30  minutes.  In  nearly  every  class  pupils  had  all 
the  time  they  desired  and  wrote  all  they  wished  to  write. 
Pupils  were  directed  not  to  write  their  names  on  their 
papers  nor  the  name  of  the  school,  but  to  indicate  the  grade 
to  which  they  belonged.  In  some  cases  pupils  also  indicated 
their  ages.  These  papers  were  grouped  by  grades  into  two 
classes,  good  and  poor.  Unfortunately  the  grading  of 
papers  is  a  matter  on  which  individuals  differ.  In  the  opin- 
ion of  the  investigator  less  than  10  per  cent,  of  the  papers 
showed  sufficient  power  in  writing  English  to  warrant  a 
passing  mark 


No.    PAPERS 

Good 

Poor 

Total 

8  A 

25 

20 

45 

8B 

27 

39 

66 

7  A 

3  * 

16 

19 

7B 

4 

43 

47 

Total 

59 

118 

177 

Examples  selected  from  papers  graded  as  good,  medium  and 
poor,  illustrate  the  variety  of  work 

8  A  Grade  (Age  13),  good 

St.  Paul  is  one  of  the  best  cities  in  the  United  States  in  which 
to  live. 

It  is  situated  in  the  north  central  part  of  the  United  States  and 
therefore  has  a  temperate  climate  which  is  most  advantageous  to 
the  health  of  the  people.  Its  central  position  makes  it  accessible 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  by  railroad  beside  being  situated  on 
the  "Father  of  Waters"  which  affords  it  a  waterway  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico. 

Another  advantage  is  that  it  is  not  far  from  the  Great  Lakes 
which  can  be  easily  reached  by  railroad.  This  gives  it  a  water 
route  almost  all  the  way  to  the  Atlantic. 

8  A  Grade  (Age  13),  medium 

St.  Paul  is  a  very  good  place  to  live.  Because  it  is  a  place  where 
people  can  get  a  good  education  and  people  are  more  apt  to  get  a 
positions  and  more  money  than  anywhere  else.  The  climate  is 
agreeable  and  that  is  why  so  many  people  come  from  other  parts 
of  the  world  to  live  here  and  people  can  live  more  cheaply  here. 

8  A  Grade  (Age  16),  poor 

Is  St.  Paul  a  good  place  in  which  to  live?  Reason.  I  think 
St.  Paul  is  a  good  place  to  live.  It  is  a  healthy  city.  There  are  a 
great  many  park  for  the  people  to  enjoy  their  selves.  They  have 
a  good  way  of  providing  for  the  sick  and  poor. 

8  B  Grade,  good 

What  makes  St.  Paul  a  Desirable  to  live  in 

1.  For  its  health. 

2.  For  its  clean  streets. 

3.  Its  good  schools. 


24  54  ST.  PAUL  CLASSES 

4.  Its  a  beautiful  city. 

5.  Has  a  good  fire  department. 

7.  Good  waterworks. 

8.  For  its  position. 

9.  Has  a  good  police  force. 
10.  Has  many  railroads. 

8  B  Grade,  medium 

St.  Paul  has  a  temperate  climate,  agreeable  summers  and  win- 
ters, it  is  reached  by  many  railroads,  its  is  a  clean  city  and  has  a 
fine  system  of  waterworks,  it  has  many  good  schools  and  colleges, 
it  is  connected  by  trolly  with  many  summer  resorts  and  has  fine 
parks. 

8  B  Grade,  poor 

St.  Paul  is  a  desirable  place  to  live  because  they  have  pure  water 
and  they  try  to  keep  it  clean  and  healthy  and  they  have  15  beau- 
tiful parks  and  the  are  building  all  the  city  buildings  so  they  have 
fresh  air  and  have  them  clean.  And  they  have  some  of  the  finest 
street  cars  in  the  World  and  you  travel  rapitely.  and  the  city  is 
govened  so  well  lately  the  st  Paul  will  be  the  best  city  in  the  united 
states  in  time. 

7  A  Grade,  good 

St.  Paul  is  is  a  good  place  to  live  in.  It  has  street  car,  railroads, 
electric  lights,  fine  buildings,  beautiful  scenery  and  beautiful  parks 
and  lakes.  It  has  fine  streets.  It  is  a  beautiful  city,  has  big  schools, 
churches  and  hosipals. 

7  A  Grade,  poor 

St  Paul  is  a  good  place  to  live  It  has  clean  stre.  is  Electric 
light  has  fine  building,  it  has  fine  lake  and  park  and  school  and  it 
is  the  Capital  of  Minnesota 

7  B  Grade,  good 

St.  Paul  is  a  good  city  to  live  in.  One  reason  is  because  it  is 
situated  on  the  Mississippi  River  and  it  is  a  good  place  for  com- 
merce. It  is  one  of  the  busiest  place  and  there  is  enough  water 
power  for  manufacturing.  It  has  a  very  rich  soil  in  some  places 
and  it  is  a  good  place  for  homes.  It  is  in  the  center  of  great  rail- 
roads. It  has  pure  city  water  and  the  streets  are  kept  clean.  This 
is  the  healthiest  city  and  it  is  very  thickly  populated. 

7  B  Grade,  poor 

S't.  Paul  is  a  desirable  place  to  live. 
Because  the  climate  is  nice. 
Because  it  an't  lonley 
Because 

St  Paul  is  a  desirable  place  in  which  to  live. 
Subject — a  desirable  place.     Predicate — in  which  to  live  is   St. 
Paul 

GRAMMAR 

Observation  base:    Four  classes  in  3  different  schools,  one  in 
7th  grade,  and  3  in  8th  grade 

The  work  was  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  pupils  and 
the  time  was  practically  wasted 


GRAMMAR  TIME  WASTED  25 

In  one  lesson  a  pupil  when  asked  how  to  express  an  action 
completed  in  present  time,  replied  With  the  nominative 
case.  Other  children  called  on  for  similar  examples  gave 
sentences  at  random  showing  they  had  not  the  slightest 
appreciation  of  what  was  meant 

One  teacher  after  conducting  a  lesson  which  she  realized  was 
hopeless  as  far  as  results  go,  stated  that  "it  was  a  shame  and 
a  waste  of  good  time  to  teach  those  pupils  grammar  when 
their  oral  speech  and  written  work  were  so  full  of  errors" 

In  one  lesson,  when  asked  to  give  a  sentence  to  illustrate  the 
passive  voice,  one  boy  gave,  The  boy  has  been  sick.  An- 
other boy  gave  The  work  was  done  by  the  boy  to  illustrate 
an  intransitive  verb 

After  the  definition,  Mode  is  the  manner  of  the  assertion,  had 
been  repeated  by  several  pupils  and  after  some  discussion 
of  it  by  the  class,  the  following  statements  of  what  the 
definition  really  meant  wtre  written  by  the  17  pupils  in  the 
class,  said  by  the  superintendent  to  be  in  one  of  the  best 
schools  in  the  city: 

The  assertion  means  the  acting  part  of  the  verb. 
The  way  in  which  the  Sentence  is  said. 

Mode  is  the  manner  in  which  an  assertion  is  made  (ex)   1.  A  sen- 
tence may  be  expressed  in  more  than  way  (2)  Mode  is  the  way  in 

which  we  make  a  statement 
(Blank) 

mode  is  the  way  the  Sentence  is  made 
Mode  is  the  manner  in  which  the  assertion  is  made     The  thing  being 

done 

Mode  is  the  matter  of  assertion.    In  a  manner  a  thing  is  done. 
Mode 
Mode  is  the  maner  of  the  asserted  ",means  to  give,"  fact,  command, 

wish  regest 

In  which  way  the  sentence  is  said    To  say  the  thing  in  a  certain  way. 
The  way  in  which  the  thing  is  being  done. 
Mode  is  the  manner  of  the  assersion.  means  of  which  some  thing  is 

said 
Mode  is  the  different  ways  in  wich  a  verb  may  be  used.    Example — 

Indicative — fact     Subjunctive — wish  or  purpose. 
Mode  is  the  manner  of  the  assertion  means  that  mode  tells  what  Rind 

of  a  sentence  it  is. 
Mode  is  the  maner  which  the  asertion  is  made  means  that  mode  tells 

states  a  fact  or  ask  a  question 
Mode  is  the  manner  the  verb  makes  the  assertion. 
Mode  is  the  manner  in  which  an  assertion  is  made  means  in  what 

manner  the  sentence  is  written. 

In  the  7th  grade  recitation  pupils  were  "analyzing"  simple 
sentences.  During  the  recitation  these  expressions  were 
used :  He  didn't  say  nothing,  He  ain't  done  it,  I  ain't  got  it, 
He  didn't  do  nothing 


26  54  ST.  PAUL  CLASSES 

The  following  definitions  were  taken  from  the  textbook  in 
grammar  used  by  these  pupils : 

A  word  used  with  or  without  adjuncts  to  denote  an  object  of  thought 

is  called  a  substantive. 
When  we  say  that  a  sentence  must  contain  a  subject  and  a  predicate, 

we  speak  logically.     Speaking  grammatically,  we  say  that  it  must 

contain  a  substantive  and  a  verb 
A  verb  that  denotes  an  action  or  feeling  that  passes  from  the  doer  of 

the  action  to  an  object  on  which  it  falls,  is  called  a  transitive  verb 

(Latin  transire,  "to  pass  over") 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  grammar  contributes  little,  if 
anything,  to  the  training  of  pupils  in  the  proper  use  of 
language.  Grammar  is  the  science  of  language  while  the 
proper  use  of  a  language  is  a  habit  to  be  acquired  by  con- 
stant repetition  and  practice 

SPELLING 

Observation  base :  One  regular  class  was  visited  and  spelling 
was  studied  in  connection  with  reading  and  other  lessons. 
The  teaching  of  spelling  was  discussed  with  7  teachers 

Pupils  are  required  to  spell  words  they  rarely  see  or  hear  and 
never  use.  One  teacher  stated  that  she  believed  the  work 
to  be  useless.  It  seems  that  8  B  grade  pupils  who  habitu- 
ally misspell  there,  where,  then,  right,  almost  and  many 
other  common  words  could  employ  their  time  more  profit- 
ably than  by  studying  herbaceous,  anther,  calcareous,  foray 

In  a  1  B  grade  more  than  half  of  an  entire  recitation  was  used 
for  spelling.  Among  the  words  were  squirrel,  acorn,  Harold. 
The  drill  was  hard,  grinding,  but  ineffective,  for  the  chil- 
dren when  they  met  these  words  in  the  reading  failed  to 
recognize  them.  Should  1  B  children  be  required  to  spell 
squirrel  when  they  may  have  no  occasion  to  write  the  word 
for  years  to  come? 

Many  teachers  are  obsessed  with  the  idea  that  children  should 
be  required  to  spell  every  word  appearing  in  any  lesson. 
If  it  be  in  physiology,  children  are  asked  to  spell  aesophagus, 
diaphragm;  in  geography  numerous  proper  names,  rarely 
appearing  anywhere  except  in  a  textbook,  are  studied  for 
spelling.  Is  it  really  necessary  for  8th  grade  pupils  to  con- 
cern themselves  with  words  like  fallibility,  cauterize,  chal- 
cedony ? 

In  not  a  single  instance  was  any  teacher  found  who  kept  a 
record  of  words  commonly  misspelled  in  written  work  of 
her  pupils.  The  fact  that  pupils  are  using  words  shows 
that  they  are  likely  to  continue  using  them  and  therefore 
should  be  able  to  spell  them.  Failure  to  check  up  and  to 
give  special  attention  to  words  habitually  misspelled  brings 


ARITHMETIC  AND  LIFE 


27 


on  a  condition  complained  of  by  teachers  in  grammar  grades, 
high  schools,  colleges,  and  by  business  men  who  employ 
young  people  trained  in  the  public  schools.  They  say  that 
children  misuse  words  like  to,  too,  two,  their,  there;  that 
they  misspell  words  where,  were,  forty,  through,  until,  right 

ARITHMETIC 

Observation  base:  Eleven  classes,  one  in  1st  grade,  3  in  2nd, 
one  in  3rd,  one  in  4th,  2  in  7th,  and  3  in  8th.  In  addition  to 
class  work,  seat  work  in  primary  arithmetic  was  observed 
in  4  rooms 

Some  of  the  primary  teachers  are  most  skillful  in  the  use  of 
helpful  devices  which  tend  to  make  concrete  the  terms  used, 
and  help  greatly  in  forming  problems  for  pupils  to  solve 

In  only  a  single  instance  were  actual  measures,  as  quart,  yard, 
foot,  peck,  used  in  teaching  denominate  numbers  involving 
these  measures.  The  result  was  shown  when  pupils,  asked 
to  draw  on  the  blackboard  a  line  a  foot  long,  drew  lines  of 
the  following  length  in  inches:  9,  9^,  11,  12,  14,  16,  17,  20, 
28,  30 

In  one  class  where  the  teacher  had  made  use  of  the  foot  rule 
3  children  were  asked  to  do  the  same  thing.  The  lines 
drawn  measured  10,  1Q%  and  11  inches 


In  one  3rd  grade  class  a  boy  was  brought  in  front  of  the  class 
and  the  pupils  were  asked  to  estimate  his  height 


No.  PUPILS 

ESTII 

HATED 

7 

12 

feet 

3 

5 

3 

10 

2 

3 

2 

4 

2 

3J 

i 

1 

6 

1 

24 

1 

61 

I 

The  actual  height  of  the  boy  was  4  feet  2  inches 

Great  loss  of  time  results  from  needless  repetition  of  the 
operation  in  number  combinations.  In  one  room  a  teacher 
used  cards  upon  which  the  numbers  were  printed.  She  re- 
quired pupils  to  name  the  numbers  and  state  the  operation 
before  giving  the  result,  7  times  8  are  56.  By  this  method 
pupils  got  the  result  at  the  rate  of  one  in  8  seconds,  or  112 
in  15  minutes 


28  54  ST.  PAUL  CLASSES 

In  another  room  of  the  same  grade  where  this  drill  was  con- 
ducted omitting  the  words  7  times  8,  pupils  gave  results 
at  the  rate  of  one  in  2  seconds,  or  450  results  in  15  minutes 

In  another  primary  grade  the  same  kind  of  a  drill  was  con- 
ducted from  a  blackboard  where  the  number  combinations 
were  written.  The  pupils  were  able  to  give  results  at  the 
rate  of  600  to  750  in  15  minutes 

The  waste  of  time  by  the  use  of  poor  methods  which  reduce 
efficiency,  taken  into  consideration  with  the  fact  that  in  the 
upper  grades  pupils  were  found  handicapped  because  of 
their  inability  to  perform  simple  operations,  points  to  greatly 
needed  supervision  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  drill  work  in 
numbers  in  the  upper  grades 

Great  difference  in  efficiency  was  also  shown  by  the  character 
of  the  problems  given  by  different  teachers.  In  one  2nd 
grade  class  pupils  were  correctly  solving  concrete  problems 
as  rapidly  as  the  teacher  was  able  to  state  them,  pupils 
giving  the  correct  results,  all  of  them  interested  and  anxious 
to  be  called  on  for  examples  like : 

Ned  earned  50  cents  one  day  and  25  cents  the  next  day;  how  much 
in  all? 

One  dozen  oranges  cost  24  cents ;  what  is  the  cost  of  6  oranges  ? 

A  boy  had  27  cents ;  he  spent  Yz  of  it ;  how  much  did  he  spend  ?    How 
much  had  he  left?    What  part  of  the  money  had  he  left? 

Bananas  are  20  cents  a  dozen;   how  many  bananas  can  I  buy  for  10 
cents  ? 

To  test  these  pupils  on  a  problem  with  which  they  were  not 
thoroughly  familiar  they  were  asked  If  2  apples  cost  5  cents 
what  is  the  cost  of  4  apples?  In  this  2nd  grade  class,  17  out 
of  19  pupils  obtained  the  result  almost  before  the  problem 
was  stated.  The  teacher  then  asked  Five  cents  pays  for  3 
apples.  How  many  apples  can  be  bought  for  15  cents?  and 
15  out  of  19  pupils  got  the  correct  result.  The  principal 
asked  If  5  cents  pays  for  3  apples,  at  that  rate  how  much 
will  a  dozen  cost?  and  9  out  of  19  gave  the  result  immedi- 
ately. Other  problems  of  the  same  kind  were  given  and 
with  practically  no  hesitation  the  pupils  were  able  to  give 
the  results 

The  problem  to  find  the  cost  of  4  apples  when  2  cost  5  cents 
was  given  in  8th,  4th,  and  3rd  grade  classes  with  the  follow- 
ing results : 


WHERE  EIGHTH  GRADES  FAILED 


29 


GRADE 

No.    PUPILS 

RESULT 

8 

13 

20     cents 

4 

8 

16 

10 

4 

34 

25     cents 

4 

10 

1 

8 

1 

12l/2 

3 

14 

10     cents 

8 

20 

In  a  4th  grade  class  the  teacher  asked :  A  boy  earned  5  cents 
for  6  days.  He  then  bought  3  apples  at  2  cents  a  piece. 
How  much  money  had  he  left?  The  written  answers  showed 
that  31  pupils  said  24  cents,  2  said  20  cents,  and  3  pupils 
answered  respectively  33,  28  and  27  cents 

In  a  3rd  grade  recitation,  pupils  reading  from  a  textbook  ex- 
ercises in  which  they  -were  required  to  fill  in  blanks, 
answered : 

*/3  of  6  equals  3 

y$  of  6  equals  6 

y2  of  7  equals  3 

Y4  of  8  equals  2 

^  of  8  equals  4 

Frank  bought  3  pencils  at  3  cents  each.    The  pencils  cost  6  cents. 
William  paid  9  cents  for  3  pencils.    The  pencils  cost  6  cents  each. 
All  of  this  was  review  work.     The  advance  lesson  had  to 
do  with  the  area  of  figures  in  inches.     The  children  had 
absolutely  no  idea  what  was  meant  by  terms  used,  such  as, 
figure,  amount,  surface.     One  child  repeatedly  called  area, 
larea 

In  2  of  11  classes,  where  the  teacher  gave  a  problem  that  ap- 
pealed directly  to  the  children,  they  took  a  lively  interest 
and  were  much  more  effective  in  doing  the  required  work. 
When  pupils  read  their  problems  from  books  or  from  a 
blackboard,  the  appeal  was  not  nearly  so  strong.  The  con- 
trast between  the  teacher  who  gave  problems  to  pupils  and 
the  teacher  whose  pupils  were  attempting  to  solve  problems 
which  they  had  to  read,  was  great 

The  arithmetic  in  the  upper  grades  demonstrated  the  in- 
ability of  pupils  to  perform  accurately  the  simplest  computa- 
tions. In  a  7th  grade  recitation  pupils  were  asked  to  add  \Y^ 
and  !5/6.  Six  out  of  40  were  unable  to  obtain  the  correct 
result.  In  subtracting  2^g  from  41/6,  7  pupils  obtained  a 
wrong  result.  In  dividing  10  by  iVs,  14  pupils  obtained  the 
wrong  results,  the  incorrect  answers  ranging  from  l*/3  to 
10%.  In  dividing  126%  by  5,  25  out  of  40  pupils  obtained  a 
wrong  result 


30  54  ST.  PAUL  CLASSES 

In  an  8th  grade  recitation,  when  adding  1%  and  !5/6,  8  pupils 
were  unable  to  give  the  correct  result,  3  of  these  using  12  as 
a  common  denominator  and  6  using  18.  In  dividing  10  by 
1%,  these  results  were  obtained:  15,  6,  7*4  12,  26,  10,  2^, 
13J4  In  dividing  126%  by  5,  the  results  were  25%,  32,  12, 
252/5,  76,  36%,  24 

In  another  8th  grade  recitation,  pupils  were  asked  to  find  in 
square  feet  the  area  of  a  window  whose  dimensions  were  36 
inches  by  42  inches.  This  problem  was  written  on  the  black- 
board so  that  no  mistake  could  be  made  as  to  the  dimen- 
sions. It  was  definitely  stated  that  the  area  was  to  be  found 
in  square  feet.  These  results  were  given:  22,  17,  156,  13,  12, 
18,  14,  171/3,  12l/6,  iQi/2 

These  pupils  were  again  asked  to  find  the  interest  on  $240  at 
4j/2%  for  1  year,  1  month,  10  days.  Nineteen  different  re- 
sults were  obtained,  ranging  from  $1.33%  to  $99.66.  An 
explanation  of  this  situation  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
these  pupils  were  busy  just  at  this  time  in  extracting  the 
square  root  of  numbers  like  98,764,  and  63,725.  Ten  such 
exercises  were  assigned  for  the  lesson  of  the  following  day 

In  a  third  8th  grade  recitation,  pupils  were  solving  the  prob- 
lem, A  train  travels  at  the  rate  of  150  miles  in  3  hours  and 
20  minutes.  How  far  will  it  go  in  8  hours?  Only  5  dif- 
ferent results  were  obtained,  in  miles  8/25,  284,  4000,  360 

In  finding  the  interest  on  $240  at  4^2%  for  1  year,  1  month,  10 
days,  these  pupils  obtained  the  result  in  record  time,  every 
one  having  obtained  the  answer  in  less  than  2  minutes,  and 
all  but  2  had  the  correct  result 

The  teacher  conducted  a  rapid  drill  in  addition,  subtraction, 
multiplication  and  division  of  whole  numbers.  The  pupils 
were  thoroughly  alive,  attending  strictly  to  business  and 
no  time  whatever  was  lost  during  the  recitation 

In  7th  and  8th  grades  where  pupils  were  required  to  solve  intri- 
cate problems,  some  of  which  are  of  a  character  never  met 
with  in  actual  business  life,  they  failed  utterly  when  asked 
to  solve  such  problems  as,  If  a  pencil  costs  2  cents  and  is  sold 
for  3  cents,  what  is  the  gain  per  cent.?  In  one  8th  grade 
class,  of  the  33  pupils  solving  this  problem,  16  answered 
50%,  11  answered  100%,  5  answered  33%%,  and  one 
answered  66%% 

In  a  7th  grade  class  the  same  problem  was  given  and  8  pupils 
answered  50%,  9  answered  33%%,  3  answered  1%,  and  one 
pupil  answered  %%.  In  this  room  considerable  time  was 
spent  in  trying  to  get  pupils  to  demonstrate  the  correctness 
or  incorrectness  of  the  results  obtained.  One  pupil  who 


APPLIED  GEOGRAPHY  •'  •'''•:< 

was  particularly  insistent  that  33%%  was  correct  soon 
reasoned  himself  out  of  33%%  and  concluded  that  50%  was 
the  right  answer ;  but  even  after  that,  some  of  the  pupils  who 
had  obtained  50%  for  a  result  were  not  at  all  certain  that 
33%%  was  not  really  the  right  answer 

In  order  to  study  the  actual  work  and  procedure  of  pupils  in 
attempting  to  perform  different  operations,  sets  of  papers 
were  collected  to  determine  why  pupils  in  the  upper  grades 
fail  in  computation.  The  papers  show,  for  example,  that  in 
the  solution  of  the  interest  problem  some  pupils  covered  a 
whole  page  of  tablet  paper  with  figures  because  of  the  very 
roundabout  and  indirect  method  of  finding  interest.  Rarely 
did  pupils  use  the  simple  cancellation  method  or  the  bank- 
ers' 60-day  method  so  generally  in  use 


GEOGRAPHY 

Observation  base:  Five  classes,  one  in  4th  grade,  3  in  5th, 
and  one  in  6th 

Some  of  the  best  work  observed  was  in  geography.  In  all  of 
the  recitations  pupils  recited  fluently  and  showed  they  had 
a  keen  appreciation  of  what  they  were  studying 

Such  uniformly  good  recitations  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
topical  recitation  method  had  been  made  effective  in 
geography  teaching.  In  the  4  recitations  visited  2  pupils 
recited  continuously  and  fluently  for  4  minutes  each,  4  for 
3  minutes  each,  and  5  for  2  minutes  each.  At  least  15  others 
recited  for  one  or  one  and  a  half  minutes  each 

In  2  rooms  maps  were  not  used  though  very  much  needed 
in  the  recitation 

In  a  3rd  grade  class  pupils  made  charts  for  the  study  of 
weather  conditions,  requiring  observation  as  to  temperature, 
humidity,  direction  of  wind,  phase  of  moon,  sunrise,  sunset 
and  length  of  day.  The  record  for  nearly  a  month  was  ex- 
hibited on  the  blackboard.  Three  pupils  were  asked  to 
explain  it  and  each  one  knew  what  was  meant  by  the  record. 
The  use  of  similar  charts  by  all  the  teachers  in  the  grades 
should  be  encouraged 

In  the  4th  grade  class  the  discussion  by  the  pupils  of  how 
raw  materials,  such  as  cotton,  wood,  silk,  rice,  wheat  and 
flax,  are  made  into  commercial,  finished  products,  showed  a 
grasp  and  intelligence  rarely  found  in  7th  grade  geography 
classes.  The  teacher  kept  herself  very  much  in  the  back- 
ground, permitting  the  pupils  to  control  the  time  of  the 
recitation 


32  -54  ST.  PAUL  CLASSES 

HISTORY 

Observation  base :  Four  recitations,  one  in  6th  grade,  one  in 
7th,  and  2  in  8th  grade 

The  pupils  in  the  history  classes  showed  little  interest.  The 
method  of  the  recitation  tended  to  devitalize  and  sap  the 
subject  matter  of  its  life  and  interest 

In  a  6th  grade  recitation  the  class  was  reading  stories  of 
American  life  and  adventure.  Pupils  read  in  the  order  in 
which  they  sat,  each  one  reading  one  sentence.  With  such 
procedure  pupils  do  not  get  the  story.  Pupils  in  this  class 
were  actually  counting  ahead  to  determine  what  sentence 
would  be  theirs.  Occasionally  they  counted  wrong 

In  one  lesson  the  teacher  actually  asked  37  questions  during 
a  20  minute  period.  The  answers  with  one  exception  were 
one  word  answers.  To  get  these  the  teacher  did  some  des- 
perate pumping 

In  each  of  the  three  7th  and  8th  grade  recitations  teachers  took 
up  the  subjects  in  too  great  detail.  In  one  recitation  the 
events  of  1862  and  the  Civil  War  were  minutely  gone  into, 
yet  pupils  were  unable  to  locate  points  like  Fort  Sumpter, 
Fort  Henry  and  Shiloh,  about  which  they  had  been  closely 
questioned 

Two  teachers  were  asked  what  the  purpose  of  history  work 
was.  In  both  cases  the  reply  was  to  get  over  the  course  of 
study 

HYGIENE 

No  work  in  hygiene  or  physiology  was  examined.  The 
schedule  time  for  elementary  school  programs  as  published 
in  the  bi-ennial  report  of  1910-11  by  the  superintendent  of 
schools  provides  no  time  whatever  for  this  subject.  Yet  the 
state  laws  make  instruction  in  this  subject  mandatory.  In 
conversation  with  teachers  it  was  learned  that  10  minutes 
per  week  was  given  to  this  work,  although  this  was  not 
done  regularly 


HAVE   YOU   AGE    VARIATION    FACTS    FOR    YOUR 

SCHOOL? 


Variation  in  Age  Among  Waterbury  Pupils  in  Same  Grade 


GRADE 

AGE 
EXTREMES 

YEARS 
VARIATION 

9 

12     —17 

5 

8 

12    —16 

4 

7 

10    —  15)4 

5K 

6 

9    —15 

6 

5 

8^—15 

6/2 

4 

7/2-15/2 

8 

3 

6/2-14/2 

8 

2 

sy2—i6 

10/2 

1 

4/2—16 

11/2 

Years  Required  to  Graduate 


YEARS 

NUMBER 

%  of  Total  Graduating 

6 

2 

7 

7 

1# 

8 

66 

16^ 

9 

234 

58>£ 

10 

74 

18# 

11 

15 

3^ 

12 

2 

Normal  or  less 

309 

77# 

Longer  than  normal 

91 

22§< 

Age  at  Graduation 


AGE 

NUMBER 

4  of  Total  Graduating 

12 

8 

2 

13 

43 

10* 

14 

109 

27X 

15 

139 

34^ 

16 

76 

19 

17 

25                                            6# 

Older 

than  normal 

299                                          75 

Normal  or  less             j 

101                      !                   25 

Age-Progress  Summary  For  One  School 


AGE 

AGE 

PROGRESS 

i> 
"° 

p 

Normal 

V 

6 

Total 

fc 

<9 

O 
•  :  & 

s 

IH 

o 

fc 

2 
o 

Total 

Rapid  
Normal  .  , 

N 

34 
308 

u    m 
29 
250 

her 

42 
141 

s 
105 
699 

P 

2.8 
24.9 

e    r 

2.4 
20.3 

c   en 

3.4 
11.4 

t   s 

8.6 
56.6 

Slow  

28 

124 

278 

430 

2.3 

10.0 

22.5 

34.8 

Total  

370 

(    403 

461 

1234 

30 

32.7 

37.3 

100 

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